The Blaidd Drwg in Boom Town
by buffyandspikefan
Summary: Sequel to the Claiming. When 9 and Rose accidentally get married, they now have to tell Jackie and Mickey! But there's a little matter of a Slitheen...Characters not mine, but will be returned in original packaging. Feedback is love!
1. Part One

**Chapter 1**:  
"We're in need of refueling."

"Is that what you call it?" I giggled.

He smiled. "I wasn't talking about us, I was talking about the TARDIS. It needs a bit of petrol, so to speak. See that button flashing over there?" He pointed off somewhere I couldn't see. "That's what it means, we need to refuel. I think." He cocked his head. "Or it could be a distress call. It's hard to tell. Things look a bit different from this angle."

"From underneath the console, you mean?"

"And something's digging into my back, ow!" he sat up, looking at the grating underneath us. "How exactly did we end up here?"

"I showed you the courtisan dress I unearthed in the wardrobe, remember?"

He grinned. "Oh, yes. I always have had a bit of a thing for period clothes."

"So I gathered," I said, motioning to the current state we were in. "If the TARDIS needs refueling, where we going to go do that? I haven't seen any petrol stations in space lately."

"Cardiff."

"Blimey, everything's in Cardiff, innit?"

He was already halfway dressed again and babbling about rifts and radiation and the like. I watched him from the floor, with an amused smile on my face. The Doctor. The last of the Time Lords. The man that I had fallen head over heels for despite all our differences.

And my husband.

That last bit wasn't something we had planned. More like something forced on us on a strange planet. But judging from all the shagging that had taken place on the TARDIS lately, not something either one of us minded.

"So we're going home then?"

"If you like, I can stop off at your time, yes." He gave me a passing smile as I stood up, wrapping my dress around me like a blanket. Too much work to put it all back on now.

I grinned. "Gonna tell my mum the happy news?"

He pulled a face. "Absolutely not. At least I'm not going to be the one to. She's smacked me once already, remember?"

"I remember the look on your face," I laughed.

"900 years and I've never been slapped," he mumbled, twisting some controls on the TARDIS.

"Well, I'm going to go change and then maybe I'll phone, see if she's about." Seeing his shudder, I shook my head. "Fight a man with swords and great beasties, but you turn coward around my mum." I leaned in to kiss him briefly.

"Have you seen your mum?"

I smacked him lightly on the arm. "Your mother-in-law."

"Don't remind me. And don't just pop in and go telling her about what's happened. She barely can stand me now and this isn't the kind of thing you spring on someone."

"It was sprung on us."

"Exactly."

"And you haven't seemed to have minded," I said, letting the dress fall to the ground.

He groaned. "That's not fair."

"I know." I moved into his arms, kissing him again. "Alright, I'll have a good visit and then I'll break it gently to her and Mickey."

"Now you can tell Mickey straight away. No, never mind, I'm telling Mickey straight away."

I shook my head at his jealousy. "You tell Mickey, he's running straight to Mum. No, I'll sit them down, have a nice cuppa, and break the good news."

He sighed, resting his head against mine. "Do what you like."

I kissed his nose. "Thank you."

"You always do," he retorted.

I shot him a look as I started to walk down the hallway.

"Just don't do it when I'm there!" he called after me, as I walked back to my room. Well, our room, but most of my clothes were in there. I picked up the mobile off the bedside table and dialed a number. "Mickey, I'm back. Got a favor to ask you..."

There was a knock on the TARDIS door.

"That'll be Mickey!"

"Jolly good," he grumbled.

"You're such fun having company over." I gawked at him. "What is that ridiculous thing on your head?" He had some sort of headband with a big red light on the front, and was standing up on one of the controls, mucking about with some wires.

"It's a...well it helps with calibration...I'm working on the TARDIS!"

I shook my head and opened the door. "Mickey!"

"Rose!" My former boyfriend and best friend gave me a great hug.

"Here comes trouble, how you doing, Ricky boy?" the Doctor greeted.

"It's Mickey!"

I ignored the purposeful wrong-name calling. "Don't listen to 'im, he's winding you up."

"You look fantastic," Mickey grinned at me. He gave me a great big hug again, and I noticed my dear sweet husband with the bizarre flashing red light on his head giving him a dark look.

"Did you find it?" I asked Mickey.

"There you go." He handed me my passport.

I held it up to the Doctor. "I can go anywhere now."

"I told you, you don't need a passport."

"It's all very well going to Platform One and Paxil and the Glass Perimeter Cyclune, but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it. You see I'm prepared for anything." I gave him a big smile. "Course, some of the information on it might be in need of updating..."

"Sounds like you're staying then," Mickey said glumly.

The Doctor looked at me and I gave him a slight smile, then looked to see Mickey frowning at us. He covered it quickly with a happier look. "So what you and Big Ears doing in Cardiff?"

"Oi!"

"Look in a mirror!" Mickey retorted.

"You saying I'm not handsome?" the Doctor grumbled, coming down the steps. "Because, I'll have you know, Ricky boy..."

"My mum!" I said and they both stared at me. The Doctor took my meaning and let it go. "I wanted to have a chat with you and her soon as she gets off work and we needed to refuel. The thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running down the city. It's invisible, it's like an earthquake fault between the different dimensions."

"The rift was healed back in 1869," the Doctor said.

"Right, by a woman named Gwenyth, because these creatures called the Gelf, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it."

"But closing a rift means leaving a scar and that scar generates energy that is harmless to the human race but perfect for the TARDIS, I just park it here for a couple of days, open up the engines, let it soak up the radiation..."

"It's like filling it up with petrol and off we go..."

"Into time and space!" the Doctor and I finished together cheerily.

"My God, have you two heard yourself? You think you're so clever, aren't you?" Mickey said.

"Yup," the Doctor agreed.

"Yeah!" I said.

"We've got another 24 hours so we've got some time to kill," the Doctor said, leading us outside. "So let's go explore!"

I took his hand and we were off.

"You know what Mum's going to be most wound up about?" I asked the Doctor as we sat for a lovely brunch along the waterfront. Mickey had stepped outside to get better reception to call my mum to arrange for her to meet us. I had wanted to surprise her with my visit before I surprised her with news.

"Hmm? What?" The Doctor sounded distracted, and no wonder, since he wasn't paying any attention to what I was saying and instead was trying to figure out the least noticeable way for his hand to work its way past my already very short skirt. "What'd you go and have to wear tights for?"

"Maybe it's because it's so bloody cold outside?" I reminded him with a giggle, moving the offending hand away when really I wanted to let him have at it. But we were already getting looks around from the other patrons, he apparently hadn't been that discreet in his endeavors. We were probably getting the dirty old man cradle robber whispers. If only they knew how truly big the age difference was. "I didn't realize what a letch you can be," I said, teasing.

"And now it's too late to do anything about it," he said in the same jovial tone. "Now what were you saying about Jackie?"

"I said she's going to be particularly wound up."

"Do you think? She already hates me, I don't think there's a word that's been invented that is what she will think of me now."

"Especially since we're married and I have nothing to show for it." I held up a hand. "No ring."

"What're you talking about? You've got a ring right there." He pointed to my right hand.

"Yeah, my ring that I got for a tenner at the shops."

"You can't just switch what hand your wear it on?"

"Don't be such a git, you know better than that! It's supposed to be a ring from you, that's how we humans do these things."

"I'm not a human," he reminded me cheerfully.

"But I am and we were married by humans."

"Married by humans whose only requirement was to have a sword fight and shag after."

"You have such a romantic way of putting things."

"That's why you were tricked into marrying me," he said with a wide smile. "But if it's so important to you." He dug around in the pockets of his leather and pulled out a silver object, putting it in the palm of my hand. "There you are, cheers"  
"What is it?" It looked like a ring, but of some sort of thick metal.

"Gasket from the TARDIS from when I was working on it."

"Yeah, and it looks like a gasket, not a ring."

"Blimey, hard to please, you are." He took it from me and pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He shone the screwdriver on it, and I noticed sweeping loops appear that I was used to see scroll on the TARDIS. His native language.

"There you are. A one-of-a-kind ring that came from a one-of-a-kind machine with writing on it that only one person in all of the universe still knows. For you. You're not going to find that at Harry Winston and you can tell your mother that too."

I slipped it on, amazed that it fit, and now with Gallfreyan scrawled across it, looked quite lovely. "What's it say?"

"For all of time," he said, his tone now quite serious, his eyes a dark blue filled with emotion.

I kissed him thoroughly, who cared what the people around us thought, until I heard a familiar throat being cleared.

I pulled away to see Mickey frowning down at us, disapproval plainly written.

"So sorry to be interrupting," he said sarcastically, moving to sit across from us. "But your mum's going to be meeting us as soon as she gets off work."

"Great," I said, facing turning red and looking down at the table as if I had been caught doing something I shouldn't.

"But I'm not hanging about to be the third wheel..."

"You're not the third wheel," I said.

"You could've fooled me."

I didn't know what to say. But lucky for me, the Doctor said it for me.

"Ricky, my boy, you get to be the first to know."

"It's Mickey, and the first to know what?" Mickey asked suspiciously.

The Doctor held up my hand. "We've gotten married! Maybe we should have some champagne to celebrate, this is our honeymoon after all, right Rose?" He flashed his wide grin.

I was looking at Mickey who was staring at me so hard his eyes were like to pop out of his head and his features were going a bit peaked.

"W-What? How? What?"

"It wasn't anything we planned," I said to Mickey. "We were at this planet Paxil, see, and the people there have a problem with single women, you're either the property of your dad or property of your husband. And I came along..."

"And was neither," The Doctor interrupted.

"Right, and so this guy thought that he could just have me."

"And I had to defend her honor," The Doctor said eagerly. "With swords. I won."

"Obviously," I said, a bit put out by how much he was enjoying rubbing my ex's face in it. "But to those people, that was a marriage ceremony and I was married to him since he won."

Mickey seemed to relax a bit. "So it was just some sword fight on a strange planet. You had to go along with it at the time, I get it. Easy enough to ignore."

"Only we're not," I said softly, looking down at my hand. The one with my new ring on it. My thoughts went back to what happened the night of our Claiming and just about every available moment since aboard the TARDIS. 900 years of living had definitely lead to mastery at certain aspects of married life.

As if he could read my mind (or likely see me blushing), Mickey looked ill. "Oh, God. You're not..."

"Every chance we get," the Doctor agreed amicably, and winced when I elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!"

"Be nice or I'll make you go with me to tell Mum," I said through gritted teeth. "Mickey, this isn't how I wanted to tell you..."

Mickey was already on his feet. "To tell me you're off shagging someone else? Worse yet, that you're married to this alien blighter you're shagging? He's an alien, Rose, it's an alien you're shagging!"

"Keep your voice down!" I hissed, pulling at his arm. "And sit down! You're creating a scene! Everyone's going to think you're a nutter!"

"I feel like I am! I don't believe this!" Mickey dropped back down in his seat across from us. "You never even broke up with me, Rose, did you remember that? You just up and ran off with him!"

He pointed to the Doctor who had at some point gotten up during the tirade and wandered over to where another man sat, pretending to read the newspaper and really listening in on our conversation.

"And I was having such a nice day, too," the Doctor said, and held the newspaper so that I could read its headline: New Mayor, New Cardiff.

With a picture of a Sliveen under it.

**Chapter 2**:  
We burst into the offices at Cardiff.

"So what's the plan?" Mickey asked.

"Have a poke about, see what we can find," the Doctor said.

"That's it? That's the plan?" Mickey scoffed. "Can see why you went and married him, what with the brilliant strategist."

The Doctor ignored him. "Right, Rose'll take the left, Mickey'll take the right, and I'll check down that way. Let's syncronize our watches."

"We're not wearing watches," I said.

He sighed. "I know, but it sounds better than synchronizing our mobiles."

I winked at him. "Let's go."

I walked down the hallways, trying my best to look like I belonged there, had a purpose for being there other than tracking down alien gangsters from planets that I couldn't pronounce. Being with the Doctor had taught me how to look confident in all sorts of situations where I felt out of my element.

My mobile rang and I answered.

"The Sliveen's heading north."

"On my way," I said, taking off.

I made it out to an alleyway, running into the Doctor and seeing the Sliveen already ahead of us.

"Ricky let her get past!" he blasted to me.

Mickey caught up to us. "It wasn't my fault!"

"Then's whose was it?"

"Never mind that, just stop her before she..." I watched as the Sliveen faded away in a blue glow. "Teleports away."

"It's alright, I've got it," The Doctor said, holding up the sonic screwdriver and pushing the button. The Sliveen reappeared again, this time running toward us. She turned and ran back down the alley again, fading out as she tried to teleport. Again, the Doctor turned her back to us.

"I can do this all day," The Doctor said cheerfully.

"Leave me alone, what'd I ever do to you?" she asked.

"You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet!"

"Apart from that."

The Sliveen's master plan didn't sound much different than any other master plan I had heard lately. Blow up Cardiff, ride her cosmic surfboard out on the explosion and it would power her way home...blah blah blah. At first hearing this kind of thing would give me a scare, now it was old hat.

But there was one thing that did give me a shiver down my spine.

Blaidd Drwg. Bad Wolf.

Those words were following us across worlds, across time. Bad Wolf. A power plant here, a television station there, always there, like a song that sticks in your head. What could it mean?

And why did the very words give me a sense of foreboding? That something bad was going to happen, something that I...

I shivered and forcibly made myself concentrate on the present. The Doctor was puttering around the TARDIS, trying to set it up for petrol-filling, and trying to ignore the Sliveen's whinging about her being sent home being a death sentence. While I didn't want to send anyone to die, I also didn't want to just let her go and destroy the world so she could use her strange little surfboard to go to another world and likely start her villainous plans all over again.

The Doctor noticed my vague expression and gave me a smile. "I'll stay, keep an eye on her," he nodded to the Sliveen. "Why don't you and Mickey enjoy a nice drink at the pub with your mum?"

I smiled back. "You're just dodging telling her."

"You're absolutely right, but I have a convenient excuse." He jerked a thumb to the Sliveen. "Alien gangster trying to blow up the planet. Someone's got to keep an eye on her, can't be helped."

"Anything to get out of facing my mum," I said, leaning up to kiss him. Both Mickey and the Sliveen made groaning noises at the public display of affection.

"Here, put a cork in it," The Doctor said to them. "If I want to kiss my wife, I will."

"Don't remind me," Mickey grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I'll give my mum your love," I said to the Doctor.

"Keep it for yourself," he said, kissing me again. "Off with you now."

Mickey and I fell in step with each other as we exited the TARDIS.

The expression on my mum's face was going to be interesting, to say the least.


	2. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Much love to kitsune17 for beta work!_

**Chapter 3**:  
Mickey and I were quiet as we walked to the bus station and got aboard. It was strange to be so awkward with someone I used to be close to. But had Mickey and I ever really been close? Or had he always just been there and I'd accepted it?

I noticed him looking at me, almost sadly, and I gave him a reassuring smile. "Did I ever tell you about this planet we visited, Woman Wept? It was amazing; they named it that because the land looks like a woman curled up crying. It was so beautiful there. And then we went to this ice planet, there were these beautiful beaches and ice as far as the eye could see, it was fantastic!"

"It's no wonder."

"No wonder what?"

"That you married 'im. He's taken you places, shown you things that are beyond description. All I can do is buy you a plate of fish and chips down at the pub."

I touched his hand, my ring glittering against my skin. "That's enough for a lot of girls."

"Not for you"  
I winced. "I guess not."

"You think you're better than us."

"That's not it at all, Mickey! There's just so much out there, so much to see, so much to do..."

"Then sit at the pub with me on a Saturday night and watch the football tourney, I get it." Mickey shook his head. "I was always just standby until something better came 'long."

"That's not true. It's not like I planned this!"

"But you ran off with 'im without so much as a backward look! A year, Rose! A year gone by and we never heard from you! Shows how much you cared about your mum, shows how much you cared about me!"

I was stung by his words. "I explained to you that for me it was only a day, not a year!"

"It wouldn't matter, because one day you would just move on. So I did too."

I blinked. "What you talking about?"

"I'm going out with Tricia Delaney."

I was floored. "Tricia from the shop? She's...nice. She's a bit big."

"She lost weight. You've been away. And shagging an alien."

"Well good for you, she's nice." I couldn't believe this. Not that I had expected Mickey to sit around and wait for me forever...had I?

"Yes, she is. She enjoys fish and chips at the pub with the telly on. She's fun and doesn't walk around with her head in the stars. And she doesn't moon about over some alien blighter old enough to be her father."

"He's 900!"

"And that makes it better?"

I sighed. "Is this it? Are we just going to keep having a go at each other? We're not even going to be friends now?"

He looked out the window. "We're friends. We'll always be friends, Rose. Bloody hell, I'm dating a shop girl, and yet I come running as soon as you call. If you hadn't married 'im, I'd left Tricia Delaney behind without a thought."

"Like I did you," I whispered.

He nodded. "Exactly. That's what you do for someone you love."

I squeezed his hand.

"I've known you loved him since you met him. I knew you were gone for good. But I couldn't help bit hope that you'd change your mind."

I wiped a tear away. "I do love you, Mickey."

"But not like you love him."

I shook my head and smiled through my tears. "Here, what you think my mum's going to say?"

"Your mum's going to go off her nut," he said and we both shared a laugh.

"I think I'd rather face aliens any day of the week than Mum when she's got her back up," I said.

"I'm with you," he said.

I smiled. "Yes, you are. Tricia Delaney's a lucky woman."

"Thanks. The Doctor's a lucky man. Here, since I missed the wedding, is it alright if I kiss the bride?"

"I think you'd better," I gave him a smile, remembering all the good times we had.

Mickey leaned forward and brushed my lips with a soft, sweet kiss. "I hope you'll be very happy, Rose. You deserve it."

"Thanks, Mickey." I felt tears in my eyes. "Now to see about Mum..."

"Mickey Smith, what's this all about that I had to drag my arse all the way out to bleedin' Cardiff after working all bloody day?"

I'll say one thing about my mum. She knows how to make an entrance.

I stayed in the shadows of the pub, keeping out of sight as the rest of the patrons turned to stare at Mum's loud complaints.

"Four hours on the train and of course we're packed in there like bloody sardines! I'm down to my last quid, so you're payin' for the trip home. Now what was this about some bloke on the telly saying he saw aliens down here, was Rose and the Doctor spotted? Or that police box thing they're flying about in?"

I stepped out from the shadows. "Hi, Mum. Surprise."

She hugged me. "Rose, oh, Rose, you're here! Why the bloody hell did you make me travel all the way down to Cardiff for, you know how I hate to take the trains, and to sodding Cardiff? Why didn't you pop in front of the flat like always?"

"We had to refuel and Cardiff's the only place to do it."

"We've got petrol in London."

"TARDIS doesn't take petrol, Mum," I said with a smile. "See, there's this rift..."

"Don't get her started, she'll be nattering on about it all night," Mickey said.

Mum looked around. "Well, where is he?"

"Who, the Doctor?"

"Hiding from you," Mickey put in. At my glare, he said, "Hey, I never said I'd be nice to him."

"He's back on the TARDIS, we had some alien complications," I explained.

"So there's really aliens in Cardiff?"

"Yeah, Mum, never mind all of that, sit down, I've got something I've got to tell you. Maybe you'd better get a drink first."

"What's this all about, sweetheart, that you think I need a drink? Not that I couldn't do with a pint, but you're scaring me." She sat down, staring up at me.

"Mickey, get Mum a pint," I said.

"No way, I'm sticking 'round for this," he grinned.

I gave him a sharp look. "Mickey!"

"Alright!" He signaled the waitress.

I took a deep breath. "Mum, you always wanted me to be happy, right?"

"Of course, sweetheart. I tried my best, though it's hard, being a single parent and all..."

"No, Mum, I mean happy, like you and Dad were happy."

"Well, your Dad and I didn't always get on..."

"I noticed," I mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"We didn't always get on, but we loved each other and I wouldn't trade our time together for anything." Mum looked a little misty.

"That's what you wanted for me, right? Someone that I loved that I wouldn't trade the time together for anything. Someone to have a life with."

"Y-Yes." Mum looked from me to Mickey. "Someday. When you're older. Finished A-Levels maybe. Why? What's happened?" She was looking from me to Mickey rapidly. "What's going on?"

I took her hand across the pub table. "Mum, I'm an adult now, and I've been traveling on my own for...I don't really know how long. And not exactly on my own, I guess."

She was staring at my hand as if I was wearing a tarantula. "Rose, what's that on your finger? That's not..."

"Mum, I got married!" I blurted out.

I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. "What?" Her gaze was darting back and forth between me and Mickey. "You mean to tell me you and Mickey ran off to bloody Cardiff to get married?"

Mickey sat back, hands held up in front of him defensively. "Leave me out of it, I had nothing to do with it."

The waitress brought Mum her drink and she bolted it. "I don't understand, if you didn't up and marry Mickey, who'd you..." she trailed off, a look of horror on her face. "No..."

"Now, Mum..."

"Where is he? Where the bloody hell is he?" She stood up, looking around.

"Mum, sit down!"

"I'm going to kill him! I'm going to kill the bastard!"

"Mum!"

"He's old enough to be your father, Rose! And an alien! He's not of this planet!"

"Mum, keep your voice down!"

"Who knows if everything works the same way it does with us?"

"Oh, it does, trust me."

She frowned. "Don't get smart with me, Rose Marion Tyler."

"You're the one that asked, I'm just telling you."

"How's he going to provide for you, he doesn't have a job he just travels about from place to place the great lout. What's he going to do if you have a baby? And what kind of a life is this for a child?"

"We get by, I haven't wanted for anything. We've always got the psychic paper and the sonic screwdriver, I haven't gone hungry yet. And I don't even know if we can have kids."

"What do you mean, you don't know if you can have kids? You went off and married someone who can't give me grandchildren?"

"First you're complaining because I could have kids and now you're complaining because I couldn't? Make up your mind, Mum!"

"I knew he was trouble from the moment I lay eyes on 'im! He could be a rotten bounder for all you know, Rose, have a girl on every planet. You sure you're the only wife he's got?"

"Mum, please..." I broke off, hearing rumbling in the background. "What?"

"Promised to keep you safe and then he goes and does this..."

"Mum, shut up for a second!" I said, concentrating on the noise.

"Oh, so you're married and now you think you can talk to your mother like that?"

"Is that thunder?" I asked, tuning her out. "That's not thunder." I jumped up and headed for the door.

Something was wrong. I knew it.

And my husband would be right in the thick of it.


	3. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**:  
I stared open-mouthed at what I saw before me. Clouds swirled directly above the TARDIS, and a blue light poured out of the rift in Cardiff into our machine. Somehow I didn't think it was supposed to do that while refueling.

I threw open the doors to see smoking machinery and sparks everywhere. I could barely make out the Doctor's form across from me. "What is it? What's 'appening?"

"Oh, it's just little me," Margaret the Slitheen snarled, dropping her human skin arm and picking me up off the floor by the throat by her claws. "One wrong move and she snaps like a promise."

"I might have known," the Doctor said, keeping back but shifting his weight back and forth, spoiling for a fight.

"I heard your bleating all night, poor baby," the Slitheen mocked. "Now shut it! Get the expactorator ready, put it at my feet or I'll tear the flesh off your pretty little wife." She grabbed me tighter and I gasped airlessly, trying to pry her claws from my throat.

The Doctor's mouth was a thin line as he did as she told. He never took his eyes off of me.

"Thank you," the Slitheen said primly. "Just as I'd planned."

"I thought you needed to blow up the power station," I gasped.

"Failing that, then if I were to be arrested, then the police that tracked me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore they would be captivated by the expactorator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. That's why the expactorator was programmed to go to plan B," she tightened her grip on me, "to lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found." She looked around the TARDIS. "I am back on schedule. Thanks to you."

"You'll...destroy...the planet!" I managed.

"And you with it!" She sat me down, but held on tight still. "While I ride this board of the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back, Doctor, surf's up!"

The doors behind us burst open, and the Slitheen actually dropped her hold on me in surprise. I staggered away, clutching my throat to the Doctor's ready arms.

"Oi, mate! I'll 'ave a word with you!" my Mum blasted, totally ignoring the Slitheen in front of her, eyes only on the Doctor.

"Assembled hoardes of Gengis Khan couldn't get in, but irate mother-in-laws, that'll pass through."

"Mum! Kind of in the middle of something!" I nodded to the Slitheen.

"She'll just have to wait her turn..." Mum trailed off . "Aren't you the mayor of Cardiff?"

Margaret preened. "Why, yes I am."

"And you're an alien?"

"Yes, I am Blon-"

"You wantin' to kill 'im?" Mum interrupted her, nodding toward the Doctor.

"Why, um, yes."

"Have at it then," Mum said, crossing her arms and fixing us with a glare. "I'll wait. And if you don't, then I will."

"I like your style, human," Margaret said. "And that jacket is lovely."

"Thanks. Got it at Harrod's."

"Really? On sale?"

"Yes. Half off." Mum looked proud. "Couldn't afford to pass up such a bargain."

"Quite right." The Slitheen turned her attention back on us. "Now, as I was saying, Doctor, surf's up!" She powered up the board and I could hear a high-pitched whining and the wind around us from the rift picked up speed. I noticed parts of the TARDIS start to fly about...

And then a door on the central console opened.

A bright yellow light shone into Margaret the Slitheen's face.

"Course, opening the rift will tear the ship apart," The Doctor said, holding me tighter.

"So sue me," the Slitheen snarled.

"But it's not just any power source. It's the TARDIS. My TARDIS. The best ship in the universe."

"It'll make wonderful scrap."

"What's that light?" Mum said, shielding her eyes.  
"Don't look at it, Jackie. It's the heart of the TARDIS. This ship's alive. You've opened its soul."

Margaret stared as if transfixed. "It's...so bright."

"Look at it, Margaret."

"Beautiful..." her voice was sounding hazy.

"Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light."

He didn't even need to speak anymore. The Slitheen was captivated by what she saw. She smiled at it, smiled at him, and then whispered, "Thank you."

The light expanded, blinding all of us. When we could see again, Margaret's skin suit lay on the floor.

The Doctor bolted into action. "Don't look. Stay back. Close your eyes, both of you!" He ran about shutting the console. "Now, Rose, shut it down, shut it all down. Jackie, the power on your left, turn all the switches to the right."

"The what to the what?"

"JUST DO IT!" he blasted, startling Mum into compliance.

Machinery sparked around us, switches blew, and thunder and lighting roared outside.

The lights came back up and it was like everything was normal again.

"Nicely done. Thank you all," the Doctor said, relief clear in his voice.

I took a deep breath and glanced at Mum, who was looking a bit peaked.

"Is this what life's like all the time, with 'im?" she cocked her head to the Doctor.

I nodded. "Most days."

"You'll never get bored, I'll grant you that." She frowned at him. "What do you think you're doing, taking my little girl to some foreign planet, not even marrying her proper?"

"What, you mean like you did, in front of a judge and witnesses? Or in a big church with flowers and guests and a minister?"

"Yes!"

"Sod that!" He waved a hand in dismissal. "Domestic. I don't do domestic"  
I elbowed him. "You are now."

"Oh. Right." He gave my hand a squeeze. "Hadn't thought about that. Me. Domestic. Who would have thought?"

"So if you're going to do this," Mum said, "And I'm not saying I'm happy about it, because I'm not, but if the deed's already been done and there's no backing out of it..."

"None whatsoever," The Doctor said, smiling.

"Then you're going to do it right and proper. In a church, in front of a man of the cloth, and with me in attendance."

"You want us to have a ceremony here?" I said, my heart giving a little leap. She might not be happy about it, but she was accepting it.

"You're my only daughter, and I want to see you get married. I don't care that you're already married, I want to see it for myself."

"Mum!" I ran over and hugged. "Thank you."

"I'm not saying I like it." She gave the Doctor a glare. "I still don't think he's the right man for you. But if there's no changing your mind..."

"There's not!" I hugged her again. "I'll have to call Shireen, see if she can perform honor duties."

"Who's going to stand up with me?" the Doctor asked.

Mickey burst into the room. "What'd I miss?"

I looked at the Doctor.

"Oh, no. Not Mickey the Idiot!"

"Hey, you called me Mickey!" Mickey beamed at him. "Why's there a Halloween costume on the floor?"

"Oh, yes, what happened to Margaret?" I said, totally forgetting about her. "She burn up?"

"No, I don't think she's dead." The Doctor came to stand over the floor where she had been.

"Then where'd she go?" Mum asked.

"She looked into the heart of the TARDIS. Even I don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic, like I told you, Rose, gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts." He knelt down and fumbled about with the suit and held something up. "Here she is."

"She's an egg?" Mickey asked.

"Regressed to a child."

"She's an egg," I said.

"She can start again. Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be alright."

"But she might be worse," I said.

"But she might not. It's her choice."

"She's an egg," Mum said.

"She's an egg," The Doctor agreed. "Now can I drop you two off somewhere?" he addressed Mum and Mickey.

"Least you can do," Mum said. "Now, Rose, what do you think of a Christmas wedding?"

"Sounds brilliant."

"You having another wedding, mate?" Mickey addressed the Doctor.

"Their idea, not mine. Wanna come?"

"Can I bring a date?"

I winced. Married though I was, I didn't know if I could get used to Mickey dating again.

The Doctor clicked a few switches, the TARDIS started up, and we were outside my flat.

My mum stepped outside. "How do you get used to that?"

"Mad, the both of them," Mickey said, stepping off with her.

I stood in the doorway. "Take care, you two. I'll be back soon."

"I know Christmas might be two seconds from now for you, Rose, but you might think about calling before then, there's a lot of arrangements to be done," Mum said. "And try not to get pregnant, there's nothing worse than having a bun in the oven while you're wearing a wedding dress."

"And you should know," the Doctor mumbled.

"Hey!" I elbowed him.

"What? Do the math!"

"Bye, Mum, Mickey!" I said, closing the door before she could retort and putting my back against it. "That was a nightmare."

"Slitheen's trying to blow up the world? All in a days work."

I gave him a look. "You know what I mean."

"You're the one that's gotten me into another human ceremony." He shuddered. "Domestic."

I slid my arms around him. "I'll make it up to you." I kissed him gently.

He grinned. "You can start right now."

"Shouldn't we take Margaret back to her planet?"

"She can wait." He kissed me until I forgot about everything else but him.

_Author's Note: This is the last bit. Should there be a sequel dealing with events from the fight with the Daleks and subsequent regeneration? Thanks everyone for reading and commenting!_


	4. Note

Do you want to read the sequel? Then please check out 'The Bad Wolf Parts the Ways' under my pen name, buffyandspikefan. If you have a Live Journal account, you can friend me and read all of my fanfiction at amynthetardis(DOT)livejournal(DOT)com.

The 'Parting of the Ways' episode is going to take on a whole new twist!


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